Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1918 — MAGNATES BROUGHT ON HEAVY EXPENSES [ARTICLE]

MAGNATES BROUGHT ON HEAVY EXPENSES

High Cost of Major League Ball Ho Fault of Players. * Club Owner* Formed Habit of Spending Money Like Sailors on Shore Leave for Stars of Game— Also Built Fine Parks. The high cost of baseball, as It applies to the major leagues, is being Celt more heavily than ever before by the men who control the game. There has been a great deal of dissatisfaction expressed by some of the club owners over the expense, of running a hlg league ball club for -the past three, or four years, but since Uncle Samuel tossed his chapeau into the big ring it has grown stronger. Yet, In reality, the magnates have little leeway to yelp, for with the (Exception of adverse influence caused by the Federal league they are alone to blame for the fact that operating major league clubs costs like sixty. The players are not responsible for the fact that the club owners formed a habit of spending money like sailors on shore leave for the stars of the game. They are not to blame because certain clubs or club owners were willing to pay big, fat salaries to their headliners. And It Is no. fault of the player that he has come to expect these thing!* in the big show. Baseball has grown to be the greatest of sports. It Is the most popular pastime and recreation of the American public, and the mags have made it what it is. They have made it a strictly commercialized sport that Is very much in demand, and as in any other business, the club owner who makes the biggest hit with "his public Is the one who gets the gravy. There hasn’t been a major league ball park built within recent years that was not built to accommodate a world’s series crowd. That is the aim of every club —to get into a world’s series. But fine parks, high salaries and spirited bidding for the services of the stars of the diamond are the work of the club owners alone, so why should they yelp? Baseball is a red-blooded sport and a cold-blooded business. It has been built up to a standard level and it must be kept there. So what’s the use of the magnate ouching over the high cost of it? He doesn’t lead the. worst life in the world by a whole lot.